Phillips Academy, Oliver Wendell Holmes Library

The historic Holmes Library is an academic and social center for the Academy community. The renovated Library will become an integrated learning hub, responsive to the changing ways in which we access information, encouraging new styles of inquiry, learning, research, and collaboration. ABA’s design preserves historic spaces, repurposes support spaces, and makes Holmes Library a nimble and flexible setting. Book stacks, condensed and relocated, are replaced by collaborative study and learning spaces, including a global innovations studio. Archival resources are moved to the main floor, giving them a new and accessible presence, joined with a unique map center. These changes – along with a new café, makerspace, and a 50% increase in seating – create new academic synergies with vision and spirit. Andover’s Library sets a standard for innovation, using its building creatively, and planning for the future.